Brazil’s Rousseff vows to fight as Senate mulls impeachment trial

Brasilia, May 7 (IANS) Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff vowed to fight “until the last day” after a special commission in the Senate recommended that an impeachment trial be opened against her.

The special commission voted 15-5 to approve a report on Friday that concluded there was enough evidence to proceed with a trial against Rousseff over the alleged fiscal manipulations in 2014 and 2015, XInhua news agency reported.

In a speech on Friday, Rousseff denied the allegations, insisting that she has not committed any crime.

“I am the living proof that a coup is being orchestrated against all advances made in the last 13 years,” she said.

She vowed to resist, despite the fact that a vote in the Senate on May 11 is seen as highly likely to formally open an impeachment trial, forcing her to step down for up to 180 days.

Rousseff also addressed the decision to suspend Eduardo Cunha, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, who began the impeachment process against her in December.

Cunha is facing graft charges from a corruption probe at Brazil’s state oil company.

“It took a person void of any moral and ethical principles, accused of money laundering and hidden accounts, to perpetrate this coup,” she said.